Susan Deacy

Embedding Employability into a Classics Curriculum: The Classical Civilisation Bachelor of Arts Programme at Roehampton University.

Employability has become a global buzz-word: instructors in higher education are increasingly being called upon to produce highly employable students who will in turn contribute to the financial capital of the country’s economy. For vocational subjects and degrees for which clear links to industry may be envisaged (such as IT, Business, Technology and Science) the challenge is surmountable. However, it remains for non-vocational subjects, and especially degree programmes in the Arts and Humanities, to prove their merit in this demand-based climate. While sceptics may be worried that endeavours to adapt an academic discipline to the needs of economic utility may effectively dilute the academic content of a degree programme, this article suggests that this need not be the case. By focusing on modules which utilize non-traditional forms of assessment and delivery, the article will demonstrate that embedding employability can actually enhance academic standards while simultaneously offering students a broader choice of learning and teaching experiences.

Beheading the Gorgon: Myth, Symbolism and Appropriation

Medusae Jellyfish were named as such by Linnaeus because of their intriguing similarity to a particular monster of classical mythology, Medusa (also known as the Gorgon). Medusa’s disembodied head with hissing snakes for hair, together with a deadly gaze that could literally petrify, made her the most horrible of mythological monsters. This chapter explores how Medusa came to be beheaded, and what this episode has signified both in antiquity and subsequently, where it has had an afterlife as among the most powerful and contested of mythological symbols. We consider how the ancient myth might have come about, what it meant to the ancients, what its value is as a symbol and how and why it has such a rich tradition of appropriation by particular users, each of whom creates a new beheading myth while engaging with various earlier adaptations.

Uxoricide in Pregnancy: Ancient Greek Domestic Violence in Evolutionary Perspective:

Previous studies of ancient Greek examples of uxoricide in pregnancy have concluded that the theme is used to suggest tyrannical abuse of power and that the violence is a product of the patriarchal nature of ancient society. This article uses evolutionary analyses of violence during pregnancy to argue that the themes of sexual jealousy and uncertainty over paternity are as crucial as the theme of power to an understanding of these examples and that the examples can be seen as typical instances of spousal abuse as it occurs in all types of society.